Originally Posted by
WatsonNimrod
As a lot of folk have said the Pigs are not that much better than us. To a layman like me there is no huge gulf, just pace with ability which is hard to find.
Against the pigs we haven't always had the most secure defensive unit for the attacking play that everyone seems to desperately want. Perhaps if Devlin returns and McKenna isn't out for too long DM might build on a reasonably encouraging performance on Boxing Day.
My issue isn't so much with the tactics (certainly this season) its 2 other issues that f@ck us over time and again.
The first being the lack of 'streetwise' type players other than Shinnie we have. The amount of times the likes of Brown and Rogic either intimidate players or bully officials is unbelievable. Brown as well as being a c@nt is a master at deception, dragging players into conflict that causes us to loose our shape and concentration. I despise him, but he alone is probably worth 5 or 6 points at least to them a season with his general c@ntyness. All too often we get lured in. In the Cup final when he came on, mentally my gut feeling was we wouldn't beat them. I suspect that was the same for some of our players. If he f@cks off that's a plus for us we should exploit. Perhaps some proper mannies sports psychology could help us here. Shinnie himself may be part of the problem. His ability to get sucked into a scrap is terrifying. A calm head is required against such minkers.
The second problem is our inability to concentrate as a team for 90 minutes which is inextricably linked to the first issue. Its rare to see the pigs loose any goals because of a lack of collective concentration. I have no idea what the underlying issue is, lack of experience perhaps but its not like we don't have players who have not played elsewhere or experienced pressure situations against rivals.
All too often we switch off at crucial periods, goodness knows why but for a while now we have too many 'flair' players that drift in and out of games with their heads often down, examples being the likes of Pawlett in the past and currently GMS, Scott Wright etc. (I am hoping to Christ McLennan wont go down that route). It may not be the cause, but a keen eye will often spot these type of players way out of position at crucial stages.
Its rare for us to go 90 mins against them without 1 or the other happening.
You have to get the basics right against teams of equal or better technical ability if you want to beat them playing attacking fitba.
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